First in person signing, Soccer style.

My son and I had our first in person autograph experience. It was not baseball related, instead it came in the form of the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Los Angeles Galaxy are one of the two Major League Soccer (MLS) teams in Los Angeles, and one of the founding teams of the league.

When we signed up our son for his first Soccer season this year, the Galaxy offered a clinic with 4 of their starters packaged along with a home game. We got the package and saw the Galaxy take on the Union earlier this year. The clinic was yesterday.



Four of the Galaxy's starters took part in the clinic. From left to right in the above photo, they were;

• Goal Keeper Josh Saunders (USA)
• Midfielder Chris Birchall (England)
• Defender Alex Cazumba (Brazil)
• Defender Leonardo

I was not sure what to expect. My son has never really played any soccer yet, and I wasn't sure what the players would be like. Everything was fantastic. My son really surprised me. For a four year old who is unfamiliar with sports or soccer, he was very good at dribbling, and trapping the ball. The players were very warm and open with the kids. They were very patient, and the drills they had the kids doing were very age and skill appropriate.



Leonardo, and Alex Cazumba worked with my son's group. My father in law had lived in Brazil for a while and quickly hit it off with them.



After the clinic, the Pro's sat for a autograph session. They brought some postcard photos to sign, and they also signed my son's soccer ball.



First up was Mr. Birchall. He asked each child's name and spelling so that he could personalize each autograph. The other players all tried to sign their postcards ahead of each child to keep the line moving, but Chris would wait and sign when they got to him.





Next was Josh Saunders.







Josh was followed by Leonardo.



We had a fun interaction with Leonardo. My son was tired and a little confused as to all that was going on with the autograph session. After Leonardo signed his ball and handed my son his autographed photo, my son lingered a little bit. Leonardo started joking with him, pretending my son wasn't satisfied with simply one photo. "You want another one?" he handed my son a second autographed photo. My son took it and just looked at him. "Still not enough? OK, OK here is another one." He gave my son a third photo. He was very good with my son, he then tried to teach my son how to say thank you in Portuguese.







Alex Cazumba rounded out the session.







All in all it was a great experience. It did show me that my son may not be ready to attend any large autograph event. He doesn't have the patience for it, luckily this was a very small and private event. I am not sure how he would do if he had to wait in a huge line with players that he didn't have personal experience with.



I can't say enough about these players. They blew my expectations out of the water. Thanks guys.